The War
by Shieldage
Summary: The A.I. Team won't be facing their last battle alone... Jake makes a hard choice, one he wouldn't wish on anybody. Crossover Ep: "Not Fade Away"


Animorphs by K. A. Applegate, numerous ghostwriters and Scholastic. Angel by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. Crossover Ep: "Not Fade Away" Therefore **spoilers** for Angel series finale.

Thanks go to _BuffyWorld dot com_, for transcripts, quoted dialog and screenshots used as reference.

* * *

- "In terms of a plan?"

- "We fight."

It looked bleak.

- "Bit more specific."

The army on foot numbered in the thousands and the defenders numbered only four.

Worse, there was a dragon in the air. It was the green and wrinkled bat-demon kind, not one of the metallic prettified ones.

Who knew what kind of weapon would spill out when it opened its mouth.

- "Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon."

Despite Angel's bravado, they really had no defense against it. Illyria, their blue-skinned Elder Being, might have a chance of leaping on to its back from a rooftop and strangling it or something...

Assuming they beat the ground troops, which had chosen that moment to attack.

- "Let's go to work."

It was a pitched battle, Gunn had been wounded earlier in the night, even Illyria was over-matched, but still, all that remained of Angel Investigations were still standing against the flow of enemies. Then the dragon flew over head and the question of what it breathed was answered...

##

It was a green goopy sort of flame. It dribbled. It oozed.

It clung together as it fell towards the battle below.

Those unlucky enough to be directly hit were killed instantly.

Those who were splattered by it melted.

It wasn't pretty.

That Wolfram & Hart had put this dragon on a team meant to wipe out only a few defenders showed truly how little the evil law firm cared for its own troops.

##

The flame puddled on the concrete, making a short stretch of alleyway nearly impassable.

Angel, Gunn, Illyria and Spike - once they had got over their initial shock - killed the attackers that were left on their side of the barrier.

They were bleeding, they were confused, they didn't know why the dragon had decided to switch sides, there were still thousands left with who knew what kinds of powers...

##

They knew the battle had suddenly become a lot more fair.

##

**20 minutes earlier**

Word had spread quickly, things were going wrong, the members of the Black Thorn were dying...

Troops were being amassed hurriedly for the final battle.

The dragon was anxious to leave, but when *his* groomer called to him, he calmed down and submitted himself to one final pre-flight check.

His favorite orc cooed to him, rubbed out the tension in his back, checked for tears in the membrane of his wings...

He let the orc clamor up his neck to his oversized head. He noticed something off about the orc, the smell was almost the same. No alarms went off in the dragon's head.

He had no way of knowing that the real orc groomer was tied up and hidden under some crates in the shed.

Then, suddenly, the dragon felt something wet and slimy sliding into his ear.

By the time he thought to move or call for help it was too late.

##

Jake hated this. He hated what they'd been reduced to doing.

They couldn't approach the dragon as humans, there was no cover.

Even if they had the chance to acquire its DNA, that left the original still around, either as a corpse or in some way subdued. Little chance _that_ would go unnoticed.

They needed surprise.

Luckily, the Chee had been keeping close tabs on Wolfram & Hart's troops, close enough that they were able to alert the Animorphs in time. But the Chee, pacifist androids that they were, would not sully their hands by 'actually' getting involved.

The jerks.

##

Discussions had been flung about the room in the small time they'd had to prepare.

They'd chosen this option out of sheer practicality, even if it flew in the face of everything they believed in.

The Animorphs had fought, for years, a covert war against the Yeerks. A race of parasitic slugs able to squirm their way into a person's brain, taking over their actions and memories...

Willpower was not an issue to them, the Yeerks were able to bypass mental shields because they were in there physically, with full control of how and where the synapses fired...

Yeerks left their victim no choices.

Jake had 'morphed' himself into one.

The dragon's brain fought mightily, but it had no chance.

Very shortly, Jake had full insight into the dragon's memories, full access to its instincts.

He knew exactly how to act.

##

When he heard the signal to attack, he spread 'his' wings and dove off the elevated platform.

Jake was the leader. He wouldn't let any of his friends take control of the dragon like this. It had to be him.

He wouldn't give his friends reasons to hate themselves. Hate themselves like they hated what had been done to members of their families. Like what the Yeerks had done to his brother...

As he flapped up to just the right altitude he sent out one last thought-speak message to his friends: _{Let's go save Angel!}_.

Jake hated himself for possessing the dragon.

He felt that leaving it a prisoner in its own body made him no better then his enemy.

But, when it came right down to it... Many horrible things had been done by many sides throughout history.

The nature of war.


End file.
